Monday, 24 August 2015

Madadeni: Eighteen-year-old Lungile Kubheka’s daughter was born at only 30
weeks but the upside of this, she says, was that it gave her the opportunity to
help other needy babies.

Lungile’s baby has been in the Intensive Care Unit at
Newcastle Hospital since she was born two weeks ago. “I thank God because if she
wasn’t premature, I wouldn’t have been stuck in the hospital and had the chance
to donate my breast milk.” Lungile, who comes from a farm in Manzama, KwaZulu Natal,
finished matric last year. After giving birth, she was told about the Human
Milk Bank at the hospital. She jumped at the chance to donate. “I wanted to
help babies that don’t have mothers and the kids whose mothers don’t have
milk.” Lungile explains the process: “They tested me for HIV and
then they gave me a donor number. I wash my hands and I take the cup and express
my milk into it. Then I close the cup and I write my name and my donor number
on some tape and put it on the cup. Then I put the cup in the fridge.”

Even though her baby is tiny, “she is doing fine”.

“Every hour and thirty minutes I go and see her. I feed her my
expressed milk with a tube. I know how good breast milk so that is why I want
every baby to have it.

“The good thing is that the more milk you express, the more
you produce. So you don’t have to worry about whether your baby won’t get
enough.

Madadeni: Breastfeeding Week 2015 was celebrated in the Amajuba
district in north-west KwaZulu Natal with a lively community event aimed at
raising awareness of the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and of the
implementation of the Human Milk Bank at Newcastle Hospital.

“The rate of breastfeeding after delivery is very high – 90%
and above - but after discharge from hospital, most mothers are not practicing
exclusive breastfeeding and that is our challenge,” said Ms Mchnu. “The rate of
exclusive breastfeeding is very low: only 8%. This has contributed to high
rates of malnutrition in our district.

“Last year (2014/2015), the number of admissions for severe
acute malnutrition was above 200, compared to 155 in 2013/2014. So every year,
there is an increase.

“If we get 200 coming to hospital, how many more are there
in the communities? We see children as young as two months with malnutrition.
We think that if we get breastfeeding right, we can get that right.”

The event was attended by around 300 men and women of all
ages.This was deliberate, explained Ms
Mchunu, as care is often shared by members of the family.

“We had focus group discussions last year which showed that
when mothers have to go back to work or to school, that is when exclusive
breastfeeding stops. We need to target not just the mother but the community as
a whole. This means gogos and mkhulus.”

Ms Lungile Kubheka, an 18-year-old donor mother, gave a
moving account of how she is donating her breastmilk to the Human Milk Bank at
Newcastle Hospital.

Short dramas enacted by Mixed Media showing the everyday
obstacles encountered by nursing mothers had the audience in fits of
laughter.Umbrellas, baby beanies and
cooler bags with the pink and white Made by Mom branding were distributed to
those who correctly answered questions about the importance of exclusive
breastfeeding and human milk banking.

In a room at the back of the hall, nurses from the Newcastle
Hospital offered a full range of community services including immunization and
growth monitoring for children; screening for HIV, diabetes and hypertension as
well as family planning.

“When we get people together like this, we use the
opportunity to provide every service we possibly can,” explained Ms Mchunu.

Friday, 31 July 2015

Tomorrow marks the start of Breastfeeding Week. New evidence shows that adults who were breast-fed as babies turn out smarter, better educated and richer. And from Kenya, more good news: exclusive breastfeeding has increased nearly four-fold in the past 12 years.

Breast really is best

FOUR extra points of IQ, an extra year’s education and a significantly enhanced income at the age of 30. Those are the benefits of having been breast-fed, according to a study just published in Lancet Global Health by Bernardo Horta of the Federal University of Pelotas, in Brazil, and his colleagues.
Other research has suggested that breast-feeding has beneficial long-term effects. But Dr Horta’s is particularly persuasive because it looks at adults rather than children and teenagers, and because it contradicts the suggestion that social class is a confounding variable, with rich mothers tending to breast-feed more than poor mothers do.Read more

What Kenya did right

KENYA has seen a remarkable growth in exclusive breastfeeding for children under six months old. In 2003, only 13% of mothers were breastfeeding exclusively. This year, according to the National Demographic and Health Survey, 61% of mothers of children aged less than six months were breastfeeding exclusively.Read more

About Made by Mom

Made by Mom is a campaign launched by the KwaZulu Initiative for Breastfeeding Support (KIBS) to promote breastfeeding in order to reduce the high incidence of infant and under-5 mortality rate. KIBS is also establishing Human Milk Banks in 11 districts in KwaZulu-Natal for mothers who are unable to breastfeed their babies. This blog will provide ongoing, up-to-date information about the campaign.